Relay



Ap il 17, 19 2 B. LAZICH 3,030,469

RELAY Filed Dec. 10, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. EEAMKO LA 2 /c// HIS AT TORNE Y April 17, 1962 B. LAZICH 3,030,469

RELAY Filed Dec. 10, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. BEAU/ 0 4A Z/cH H/s Arrow/Ev United States Patent ()fifice 3,030,469 Patented Apr. 17, 1962 3,030,469 RELAY Branko Lazich, 1 Joel Place, Port Washington, NY. Filed Dec. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 858,703 7 Claims. (Cl. 200--87) This invention relates generally to servomotors and more particularly to servomotors such as used in hermetically sealed miniature or crystal case relays. The servomotor comprising this invention employs wafer type permanent magnets preferably of the ceramic type which are magnetized axially. Such a magnet provides an improved seivomotor or relay structure which is the principal object of this invention.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a wafer or axially magnetizable permanent magnet employed in combination with a relay structure wherein the armature extends through the center of the electromagnet operating the servomotor or the relay. It is normally held in one position by permanent magnet flux and may be alternately attracted to opposite the position by reversing the flux through the armature depending upon the polarity of the electromagnet exciting the armature.

Another object is the provision of a servomotor or electromagnet having wafer type permanent magnets which are magnetized axially and are mounted on opposite sides of electromagnet, the field of which may be reversed to provide an additive magnetism to perform work or an opposed magnetism to provide the opposite function. The

armature being of magnetizable material and being attracted to opposite sides of the permanent magnets depending upon the direction of the magnetism supplied to the armature.

Another object is the provision of a servomotor or relay having an electromagnetic coil disposed coaxially with axially magnetized permanent magnets on either end for energizing an armature pivotally supported intermediate of the ends of the electromagnetic coil between the permanent magnets and which will oscillate back and forth between the opposite pole faces of the permanent magnets depending upon the polarity of the electromagnet.

Another object is the provision of an electromagnetic coil mounted adjacent a circular permanent magnet being magnetized axially and arranged coaxially with the electromagnet coil to provide alternate polarities eifective on a rotary armature depending upon the matching or the opposition of the magnetic field of the permanent magnet and the electromagnet.

Another object is the provision of the servomotor or relay provided with a circular type permanent magnet magnetized axially and mounted coaxially with an electromagnetic coil, the magnetic field of which either supports or cancels the magnetic field of the permanent magnet so that the resultant magnetic field is effective on an operating member which either rotates or oscillates to produce the work required in translating the selected energization of the electromagnetic field.

Another object is the provision of a circular type magnetic means which is magnetized axially and which provides a series of coaxially disposed pole faces magnetically isolated from each other and presenting opposite polarities to attract or repel an armature according to whether the coil is unenergized or energized.

Other objects and advantages appear in the following description and claims.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplification without limiting the invention or claims thereto certain practical embodiments of the invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of one form of the servomotor having circular permanent magnet and electromag netic coil axially aligned for energizing an armature pivoted intermediate of the coil.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an axially polarized magnet and electromagnet mounted coaxially with a solid core supporting a rotary armature that actuates a plurality of contacts.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 illustrating the contacts and the manner in which they are actuated.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings the servomotor or relay can be of any suitable size although the particular one shown has a dimension of approximately one and one-eighth inches and the electromagnetic coil together with the armature is approximately one and one-quarter inches long, the coil itself being approximately three quarters of an inch long.

The case 1 of this relay is preferably made of magnetic material and is a simple cylindrical case having an enlarged outer bore 2 to receive the header 3 which is provided with a brass ring 4 brazed thereto and which is secured to the wall of the casing 1 by brazing or other similar mode of attachment.

The reiay is provided with an electromagnetic coil 5 wound on a brass spool 6 which has one end indicated at 7 provided with the insulating terminal sleeves Band 10 for supporting the terminals 11 and 12 that extend through insulating glass 'beads 13 in the head 3.

An outer iron shell in the form of a cylinder 14 having a bottom 15 at one end with a circular opening as indicated at 16 is provided at its other end with the inturned annular flange 17 and overlies the radial brass end 7 of the spool 6.

The bore of the brass spool 6 is arranged to receive the armature supporting frame 18 which is preferably made of a nonmagnetic material such as aluminum and is provided at its center with the pivot pin 20 for pivotally supporting therein the armature 21. The armature 21 extends beyond the ends of the coil 5.

The outer face of each end of the coil is provided with magnetizable metal rings 22 and 23 which have openings smaller in diameter than the frame 18 to hold the same in assembled relation. Either the rings 22 or 23 or the frame 18 may be provided with a tongue means to interlock these members together at both ends of the coil such as illustrated at 24 and 25. Seated on the rings 22 and 23 are the annular permanent magnet rings 26 and 27 which are magnetized axially so that the outer face of the magnet 26 is the south pole and the inner face of this ring is the north pole and the ring 27 is correspondingly in the same manner so that the inner face is the south pole and the outer face is the north pole. These ring magnets are faced with the magnetizable rings 23 and 30 which are quite similar to the rings 22 and 23 and which are held in place by the. nonmagnetizable flange sleeve members 31 and 32 which may be made of aluminum. Thus the magnetizable rings which box the permanent magnet rings are held in an assembly of the cup shaped members 31 and 32 and these assemblies are in turn retained in assembled relation by the tongue means 24 and 25 which hold the whole assembly together as a unit. This assembly is then pressed into the outer casing 1 and since the outer shell 14 and the armature 21 are made of magnetizable material they serve to produce a circular magnetic path between the two permanent magnets and the armature only when the coil is deenergized. The direction of the flow of the magnetism through the armature must be reversed by the proper excitation of the coil 5 in order to reverse the position of the armature. In this case the magnetic circuit is completed without going through permanent magaosoaee nets. However, as long as the coil remains unenergized the permanent magnets produce the magnetic flow through the armature it will remain in the last position and the magnetic force of the permanent magnets will be employed to retain the armature in this position which force is applicable for use in producing the contact pressure of the normally closed contacts of the relay.

As shown in FIG, 1 the head 3 is provided with a standard 33 which carries the pivot member 34 to pivot ally support the arm 35, one end of which is provided with abowl 36 that fits within a socket in the armature and the other end extends through an opening in the slide 37. The slide 37 is arranged to engage the contacts at the opposite ends of the head. Thus the heel contact member 38 may be arranged to make contact with the front contact member 40 on one side and the heel contact member 41 engages the front contact member 42 on the other side. These contacts, of course, can be sub stituted for any other servo operation and they are merely demonstrative of one type of relay contact construction. The slide bar 37 operates in aligned openings carried by the posts 43.

in FIG. 1 the magnetic field that is contained as indicated in dotted lines passes through the armature towards the north pole to the left and thence through the north pole to the south pole of the magnet 27 and along the outer shell 14 to the north pole of the opposite permanent magnet 26 and thence to the opposite end of the armature thereby completing the closed circular path of the magnetism, there being no gaps whatsoever in this circuit.

When a proper current is passed through the coil to oppose the how of the permanent magnet flux through the armature the armature will reverse its position. However, if the current supplied to the coil 5 provides the same magnetic polarity, the armature will remain in the same position.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 the servomotor or relay is provided with an outer magnetic or iron casing 45 which may or may not be closed at one end as shown in FIG. 2 and is provided with an opening 46 provided by the inturncd flange 47 on the bottom of the case for the purpose of receiving the soft iron core member 48. The core member, of course, may be sealed with the case to prevent any flow of fluid therethrough.

Surrounding the soft iron core 48 and in the bottom of the casing 45 is the coil 50. This coil is provided with two leads which extend out through the head as shown at 51 and 52 in FIG. 4.

The coil 50 is provided with a brass sleeve 53 that F has a spool section having the radial end 54 and is en closed and embraced by the outer iron magnetizable cover 55 which is provided with the radial end 56 that engages and may seal on the brass spool 53 and the opposite end is provided with an inturned flange 57 which engages and may seal over the radial section 54 of the brass spool 53.

Inwardly of the coil 54 is a spacer 58 which may be made of a nonmagnetizable material such as aluminum. This spacer is cylindrical in form and is provided with an inner bore to receive the inner or lower pole piece 60 that has an annular inturned flange 61 that engages against the face of the axially polarized permanent magnet 62 which also fits within the sleeve 58 and abuts against the inturned flange 57 of the iron cover 55. Since the iron cover 55 engages the outer iron casing 45, the same is in direct contact with the lower end of the soft iron core 48. The inner or lower pole piece 60 is provided with a series of upwardly extending arms having inturned sections 63 of which there need be as many as there are legs on the armature 64. The whole of the pole piece, of couruse, is made of magnetizable material so that when directly connected to one face of the arms 65 of the armature it will complete the magnetic circuit flowing from the north face of the axially magnetized permanent magnet 62 through the lower or inner pole piece 60 and its arms 63 to the arms 65 of the armature and to the soft iron core 48, the iron case 45 and the iron cover 55 to the south face of the axially magnetized permanent magnet 62. An air gap is provided between the armature shafts 66, which is made of nonmagnetic stainless steel, and the armature 64 which is held thereon by the spring washer 5-9. 8

The aluminum spacer 5-8 is provided with the offset 67 to receive the upper or outer pole piece 68 which is cylindrical and is in continuous contact with the outer shell 45 and is provided with a series of inturned arms 69 that are equal in number and are opposed to the pole faces 63 of the inner or lower pole piece 60. If it is desired to actuate the relay, the coil 50 is energized so as to reverse the flow of the magnetic circuit created by the permanent magnet. In other words, the magnetic circuit induced by the coil 50 must overcome the permanent magnet through the outer casing 45 that extends in parallel with the permanent magnet to thereby attract the arms 65 of the armature 64 to the pole faces 69 and thereby actuate the armature. This actuation of the armature will be maintained for the full period that the coil 50 is ener: gized. However, just as soon as the coil 50 is deenergized the armature will of course return to the position shown and only be affected by the magnetic circuit of the permanent magnet 62.

The armature 64 has attached thereto the insulating disc 70 preferably made of Teflon material and held in place on the armature by the three pins 71. The disc 70 extends upwardly and is provided with a series of six abutrnents 72, each of which engage between the contact arms 73 and 74 of thehairpin type contact 75 which is provided with a socket 76 engaged by the pin 77 in the head 78 secured in sealed relation to the end of the casing 45. The contact arms 73 and 74 are compressed so that they will readily engage the abutments 72 and the spacing between their contacts 80 and 81 is less than the fixed spacing between the contacts 82 and 83 supported by the head 78. Each of the contacts 82 and 83 are mounted on the terminals 84 and 85 that extend through beads 86 in the head 78 for the purpose of providing connection to the exterior of the relay.

When the armature 64 is mounted on the shaft 66 a Teflon bearing 69 is placed between the armature and the core 48 to function as a bearing.

When the armature 64 is rotated, it thereby rotates the contact actuator 70* which moves the ends of the contact 75 so as to engage one or the other of the contacts 80 and 82 or 81 and 83. When one set of the contacts are engaged the other set are open and the contacts themselves swing on the pivot points 77. The abutment 72 on the contact actuator 70 thus provides an applied force in closing the contact regardless of which direction the armature is rotated.

- 1 claim:

1. A relay comprising an electromagnetic coil wound on a non-magnetic spool having a flange that covers one end of said coil, axially magnetized permanent magnet ring means mounted coaxially adjacent said flange, an outer annular shell of magnetic material encasing the perimetral surface and the other end of said coil but magnetically connected with the inner or coil end of said permanent magnet ring means, a magnetic pole means connected with the outer end of said permanent magnet means, pivotally mounted armature means engaging said pole means to close the magnetic circuit of said permament magnet means, back contacts actuated by said armature means when energized by the flux of said permanent magnet means, and front contacts actuated by said armature means when said coil is energized to oppose the flux of said permanent magnet means.

2. The relay of claim 1 characterized in that the path through said magnetic means is continuous and is broken by the movement of said armature means from said magnetic pole means when the flux in said armature is overcome by the flux of said coil.

3. The relay of claim 1 characterized in that said contacts are at one end of said relay, a case of magnetic material enclosing said contacts and relay structure, and insulated members carrying connections to said contacts and coil.

4. The relay of claim 1 characterized in that said coil has a hollow core and said armature extends therethrough and is pivoted therein to engage said pole means.

5. The relay of claim 4 characterized in that said permanent magnet ring means are two rings one at each end of said coil With their polarization connected in series and between said pole means which are at each end of said armature means.

6. The relay of claim 1 characterized in that said coil has a solid core and said armature is rotatably mounted on an axial pivot carried by said core.

7. The relay of claim 1 characterized in that said magnetic pole means comprises a plurality of spaced poles magnetically connected to opposite sides of said permanent magnet ring means and the polarization in energizing said coil selectively determines the contacts actuated.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,454,973 Mason NOV. 30, 1948 2,749,403 Horman et a1. June 5, 1956 2,758,173 Riley Aug. 7, 1956 2,913,639 Coppola Nov. 17, 1957 2,915,681 Troy Dec. 1, 1959 2,927,177 Nemeth Mar. 1, 1960 2,931,872 Sprando Apr. 5, 1960 

